A Name By Any Other
by IcyPanther
Summary: To avoid another one of Shiro's exhausting training scenarios, the Paladins settle on a bonding activity and opt to talk about their names. What they thought would be a light-hearted topic turns deeply personal when they realize that no name is as simple as it appears. For behind every name there is a story just waiting to be told. / Team bonding, gen fic, angst to go around


**Timeline Notes:** Could take place anywhere in season one or early season two.

 **Warnings:** None. First and last time this will probably happen.

 **xxx**

 **A Name By Any Other**

 **xxx**

The Paladins of Voltron were sprawled about in their typical we're-good- just-finished-almost-dying-against-the-Gladiator state on the training room floor. That meant Lance was flat on his back with Hunk mimicking him in the opposite direction, while Pidge was on her stomach with her forehead resting on the cool metal ground, Keith was leaning against one of the walls and looking completely nonchalant and Shiro was eagerly flipping through the next training scenarios to put them through.

They had all wrongly thought that when Allura said she needed to go planetside for a meeting that that meant they would have an easier training day under Shiro.

Nope.

Nope to the thousandth power.

Coran had just finished programming the Gladiator with a series of new sequences and Shiro was like a kid in a candy shop. Keith had been just as eager to test his skill against the new levels, but over three varga later even he was looking a little worn around the edges.

"This one looks good," Shiro grinned, turning from the console. "It's a level twelve but I think we can handle it if we all work together." His grin was near blinding and Lance groaned, moving a hand to cover his eyes.

"Shiro, man, can we call it a day?" Hunk pleaded.

"But we have so many left," Shiro almost pouted. He looked to his always willing training buddy. "Keith?"

"It has been a long day," Keith said simply, arms still crossed over his chest and face giving nothing away.

Shiro glanced around the room at the collapsed Paladins and shook his head in defeat. "All right. All right."

"Yay," Lance cheered weakly, reaching over and bumping his fist to Hunk's. "Freedom."

"Not quite so fast," and Lance's groan echoed in the room. "I told the princess we'd train for four varga and we still have half a varga left. That said, how about we do a team building activity?"

"I am not doing trust falls," Lance said. He pointed a finger in Keith's direction. "I know Mullet would drop me."

"I would not!" Keith sputtered, pushing off the wall.

"Guys," Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How about we all pick a topic and talk about it? _Without_ arguing?"

"Fine with me," Pidge muttered, voice muffled by the floor. Lance gave a thumbs up and both Keith and Hunk said "yes."

"Come on then, let's form a circle. Group bonding time."

Lance pulled himself to sitting with a loud groan while Hunk rolled over to get closer to Shiro. The Black Paldadin shook his head at their antics as Pidge crawled across the floor and made an undignified noise as she fell back down.

"Sitting in a circle," Shiro amended as Hunk showed no signs of rising either. "Feel free to take off your armor too if it'll make you more comfortable."

A long minute later everyone was there; Lance between Pidge and Hunk, Keith on Pidge's other side and Shiro between Keith and Hunk with chestplates and arm braces scattered out behind them.

"Okay, we need a topic," Shiro said. "You all have one dobash to think of one or else I'll pick… and my pick is a survival scenario we have to solve."

"Anything but that," Lance complained. It wasn't that they weren't interesting or anything, but they took _hours_ because they could never agree on what they were supposed to do in their theoretical scenario. Pidge was always adamant they had to find technology, Keith wanted to fight everything, Hunk was concerned about them all starving to death and Lance just egged them all on. Shiro considered it an excellence test in patience and if they happened to gain any useful tactics out of it he called it a good day.

"Favorite food?" Hunk suggested, perking up.

"Something a little more personal than that."

The room was silent as they all tried to come up with something that wasn't "favorite" items and wasn't _too_ personal. They were all still mostly getting to know one another and some things, even with someone you had to mindmeld with to form a giant robot on a regular occasion, were still off limits.

"Ten seconds," Shiro grinned, already contemplating which situation he'd pick. They'd done wilderness last time so maybe something with a city setting.

"Names!" Pidge blurted out.

"Names?" Shiro repeated, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded vigorously. "Yes. Like, how we all got our names. Other than Keith none of us are using our actual ones, right?"

"Excuse me?" Lance protested. "Lance is my real name!"

"You're from Cuba," she said pointedly. "And we've all heard you go on about your siblings. _They_ have Hispanic names. _You_ do not. Therefore, Lance is not your real name."

"Hold up a tick," Shiro said, raising his hand to silence Lance. "It's an interesting topic. I'll allow it."

Pidge smirked victoriously.

"Lance, would you like to start us off?" Shiro asked.

"Would I," he muttered. "For the record Lance _is_ my real name, _Katie,"_ and Pidge bristled. "And I was named after a hero."

"Lancelot is fictional," Keith put in. He didn't get most pop culture references but he did know about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

"A real one," Lance narrowed his gaze. "Besides, Lancelot was an asshole."

"Lance, focus; Keith, quiet," Shiro cut in. "Lance, you have the floor. No interruptions please."

" _Gracias,_ Shiro. Now, as I was saying I was named after a hero. His name is Lance McClain and he's a doctor." His voice dropped a little bit then and the others seemed to realize that this was not an exaggerated story.

"My full name is Lance Javier Esposito," Lance said. "Javier is my papá's name. My name _was_ supposed to be Ricardo," he winced at that, "but clearly that isn't the case, _gracias a Dios."_

He swallowed thickly and Shiro wondered if maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But Lance was already talking again and so he listened.

"My family is from Cuba although we moved to America when I was seven. Anyways, back then… well, even after we moved for a while, we didn't have a lot of money so times could be a little tough. But we were a pretty awesome family and got through it." A small, sincere smile lit up his face at some memory and Shiro found himself relaxing at the gentle tone.

"When my mamá was pregnant with me she got sick. Nothing bad and she recovered, but her body was weak. So… I came early. Really early. My family had been saving up whatever money they could so Mamá could go to the hospital, but they didn't have enough when she went into labor."

Hunk placed a tender hand on Lance's shoulder and the sharpshooter shot him a small smile.

"My papá was desperate. He offered all that we had but it wasn't enough and the hospital... the hospital wouldn't budge. But one of the nurses told him that there was a missionary doctor who had come to town a few weeks back, although he was in pretty high demand and the local church was making all requests go through them first. Well, my papá ran all the way to the church and barged in during mass." He grinned at the recollection, as the scene his papa had made reportedly was all anyone could talk about for days. "Demanded the doctor come with him. And lo and behold he did, much to the church's displeasure."

His face grew serious again. "Mamá was in labor for over twenty hours. When I was finally born they weren't sure I was going to make it, being eight weeks early and all. Dr. McClain took me to the hospital and paid out of his own pocket for my residence – he wouldn't take a _peso –_ and set himself up as my primary doctor. He cared for me, day in and out for over a month. Without him… without him I wouldn't be here."

"Lance," Pidge whispered.

Lance looked up with a bright smile and a touch too bright of eyes. "It has a happy ending though. Obviously," he gestured at himself. "Since Dr. McClain wouldn't take any money my parents decided the best way to thank him was to honor his name. And thus, Lance."

"A true hero indeed," Shiro smiled.

Silence pervaded for a moment, reflecting on the enormity of Lance's story that Shiro had not seen coming in the slightest with a topic such as 'names.' But he was grateful for it. This was the type of bonding he'd hoped for and, chancing a look at Keith who was gazing at Lance with gentler eyes, it was what they needed.

"I vote Pidge goes next since she started this," Lance declared and the girl had the good grace to incline her head.

"Fine, fine. So my real name is Katherine Holt, Katie for short. And Katherine was chosen because it was my mom's grandma's name. Nothing special."

"But Pidge?" Lance grinned, poking her and she jabbed him hard back in his side, garnering a soft 'owww.'

" _Pidge,"_ she stressed, "is a nickname Matt… my brother," she said, voice growing quieter, "gave me."

"You… liked pigeons?" Lance hedged, hoping it would pull the melancholy look from her face.

Pidge scowled and Lance grinned. Mission complete. "Ugh. Rats with wings? No thank you."

"Hey, some people like rats," Hunk said. "I had a pet rat named Toodles and he was a sweetheart."

Pidge shuddered. "Hell no."

"Language," Shiro scolded mildly and Pidge stuck her tongue out.

"Do you want to hear about my name or not?" Quiet reigned. "Thank you. So. My brother gave me my nickname. I was always a tiny kid—"

"You still are," Lance interrupted, earning a bark of his name from Shiro and an exasperated sigh from Hunk.

Pidge's teeth ground together. "I was rather tiny and so Matt thought it'd be fun to call me Smidgeon, you know, like a smidgeon of something is a tiny amount. It didn't really stick though because I couldn't pronounce the 's' and it was too long for him.

"So then his next bright idea was to call me Pinch, on the same vein of a pinch of spices." An amused smile crossed her face. "He was going through a phase of wanting to be a gourmet cook and was always using phrases like that. Drove my mom nuts when he would correct her over things. I still remember the whole blow up of colander versus a strainer."

"Pinch, huh?" Hunk winced. "And for the record, a colander is—"

"Hunk, buddy, not now," Shiro cut in, earning an embarrassed chuckle and apology.

"It was a shitty name" – "Language, please," Shiro called and Pidge ignored – "So my dad suggested Matt just combine the two. He obviously came up with Pidgeon first, but since smidgeon could be shortened to smidge, and you know, the whole point was that I was short… Pidge was born."

"I honestly always thought it was pigeons," Lance said almost sadly. "But I like the actual story a lot better," and he nudged her gently. "Sounds like a great big brother."

"The best," she sniffled. "And we're going to find him."

"We will," Shiro promised.

"Um, I can go now," Hunk said, raising his hand and Shiro nodded his head encouragingly.

"Well, it's pretty simple," Hunks said, and there was a devious grin that was a little too Lance-like to make Shiro comfortable. "I was the most handsome baby anyone had ever seen and my parents knew I'd grow up to be an absolute hunk."

Lance snorted loudly, tears of mirth in his eyes, while Keith nodded, accepting it, and Pidge stared.

A second later Hunk cracked, laughing in that full-body way that just made anyone looking at him feel happy. "Sorry, sorry, I had to."

"Is Hunk actually your name?" Pidge asked.

Catching his breath Hunk nodded. "Yeah. But it wasn't intentional. It's actually from a clerical error."

"Clerical error?" Shiro repeated.

"Yeah, it was supposed to be Hank but the nurse who wrote it down didn't connect the circle on top and by the time it was realized the birth certificate was already printed. My parents said it was too much trouble to change it and thought the whole thing was hilarious."

"I think Hunk suits you much better," Lance said, clapping a hand on the broad shoulder.

Hunk smiled softly at him. "I agree. There… there were some times in my childhood where it wasn't so nice. Chunky Hunky," he grimaced at the memory, "but it's all in the past now. Met this string bean here," he gave Lance's shoulder a knock that sent the Cuban tumbling into Pidge, "and learned to embrace it and ignore the bullies."

"I guess that's a good lead for mine," Shiro said, trying to keep his voice light but clearly failing as a bunch of too sharp gazes landed on him.

"You were bullied?" Lance asked in disbelief. "You?"

"I wasn't born six-foot and muscular, Lance," Shiro said dryly and Lance gave a slow nod, looking at him more seriously now.

"So, my full name is Takashi Shirogane, but as you know I go by Shiro. And, if you couldn't figure by the name, I'm Japanese. I was raised by my very strict, but kind, traditional grandparents after… after my parents and twin brother died."

"Shiro," Lance whispered, aghast and Shiro felt Keith's hand descend feather light on his shoulder in a show of support.

"I don't even remember them," he said honestly. "I was two when it happened. But that's not what we're talking about today."

Nods around the room and everyone's faces were more drawn than they had been before.

"Takashi is not a name that is all that common in Iowa," Shiro said, "which is where I grew up. I didn't join the local school district until I was in first grade because my grandparents wished to teach me more of our history and traditions first, so a lot of the kids there had already been friends since preschool. Living with my grandparents Japanese was my primary language and my English was… passable, at best, and that's being generous."

He saw Lance wince across from him and knew that was a story for another day.

"I was this foreign kid with foreign customs and a foreign name," Shiro said. "And as such I introduced myself on day one as Shirogane Takashi, as in Japanese culture you say your family name first. The kids thought it was an," it was his turn to wince, "ugly name and would butcher it endlessly on purpose with very fake accents. When I tried to correct them to my actual first name they just did it there too. I was pretty small too and was a prime target for the bullies because I didn't know enough English to really talk to the teachers."

"Shiro, that's awful," Hunk murmured, empathy on his face.

"Kids can be cruel," Shiro gave a small shrug. "I decided in all my wisdom of six years old that the best solution would be to change my name. I wanted to go by David because David was this older student who did occasionally look out for me. When my ojisan – grandpa," he clarified, "found out, he was furious. He took our family history very seriously, especially now that he'd lost his only son.

"So I decided if I couldn't change my name I would shorten it to something that wouldn't be so easily picked apart. Takashi didn't really split very well but I liked the sound of 'Shiro.' When I switched to a new school the next year for a fresh start I introduced myself as such, and with a better grasp on English too, and it just stuck. And now… well, I'm Shiro now."

"Do you want us to call you 'Takashi' at all?" Pidge asked. "Like… I still like it when you call me Katie. _Sometimes,"_ she emphasized.

"Takashi," he sighed, feeling his throat growing thick, "Takashi isn't here anymore. Takashi was the name of a little boy who had big dreams and saw only good things in the world. Shiro… Shiro isn't that same person anymore. So, no. Thank you though. But it's just Shiro now."

More solemn nods before Keith quietly said, "I owe my life to 'Shiro.' I think it's a great name."

Shiro met Keith's gaze and nodded. "Thank you, Keith."

"All right, Mullet's turn," Lance said hurriedly, and Shiro appreciated the other boy's observant eyes directing the attention away. "Please tell me your real name is like Lucy or something."

"No," Keith grumped, crossing his arms across his chest. "It's not. It's Keith."

"Keith…" Hunk prompted.

"Keith Kogane," the Red Paladin sighed. "And there's nothing special about it."

"No family history or anything?" Pidge raised an eyebrow, and Shiro cringed. Oh no. He regretted ever feeling relief that the attention was off him.

"No."

"Come on, man, you have to tell us something," Lance wheedled. "Were you named after some celebrity that was in a scandal? Or maybe your parents lost a bet and had to name you after someone's dog? Do people name their dogs Keith?" he wondered at his own question.

A vein was ticking in Keith's temple and Shiro knew an explosion was imminent.

"No," he said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I know! It was a random name generator! But all of them had to start with 'K' for the alliteration. It is pretty catchy."

"Okay, let's let it go," Shiro stepped in, hoping to soothe ruffled feathers before the fallout. "We've reached our four hours."

"That's not fair," Lance protested. "We all shared!" He turned back to look at Keith. "What, are you too good—?"

"I don't know!" Keith snarled out and Lance looked taken aback at the violent tone. "I don't know," he repeated softer although no less fierce. "Why, you ask? My mom left before I knew her and my dad died when I was a kid and at seven I never thought to ask him. So no, Lance, I don't know."

Silence rang following Keith's outburst and Shiro was alarmed to see the barest sheen gathering in the corner of dark purple eyes.

" _Lo siento,"_ Lance said softly, although when Keith did not change expression he said instead, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… to push like that. I didn't know."

The tension bled almost immediately from Keith's shoulders and he let out a tiny huff of air. "It's fine," he mumbled. "Whatever."

"It is not fine," Lance said hotly and drew every gaze to him in surprise. "It's not. I'm really sorry, Keith."

Keith gave an uncomfortable roll of his shoulders. "It's okay," he said, and this time it sounded more sincere. "Really."

Lance nodded. "All right. We… we could come up with a story for your name, if you want? A good one." He looked cheered by the prospect and Shiro's heart warmed at the hesitant smile and nod Keith managed.

"Okay, what does Keith mean?" Pidge asked, propping her chin on her hands.

Keith shook his head. "I don't know. Never looked into it."

"Forest," Shiro said softly. At a series of questioning looks he gave a sheepish shrug. "When we first met I looked it up. It just stuck."

"Forest," Keith repeated. "I was born in Arizona. In the _desert."_

"Maybe wherever your parents were from there were forests," Lance suggested. "And whenever they said your name they were reminded of home and were happy because you were their new home."

"That… that is actually very sweet," Pidge said after a moment, pushing her glasses up and looking at Lance as Shiro had often seen her look at Matt.

"I like it," Hunk grinned. "Keith?"

"It's a little sappy."

"Then it's perfect," Lance grinned. "Cause we all know you're soft and fluffy under that prickly mullet exterior."

Keith drew himself up to all his short height offered. "I am not soft and fluffy!"

"Guys, guys," Shiro stepped in between and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let's end this on the happy, sappy note. Agreed?"

Mumbles of affirmation sounded and Shiro smiled. "Good. Then let's bring this in for a group hug."

Keith twitched under his hand but it was too late to escape as Lance enthusiastically roped Pidge in and Hunk pushed them all together.

Shiro took a deep, relaxing breath as he felt Hunk squeeze his shoulder and Keith finally place his arm across his back. He hadn't thought Pidge's suggestion would end up being quite so personal a discussion, but he was glad it had. It opened his eyes to quite a few things about his fellow Paladins and he felt much closer to them now then any survival scenario would have brought upon.

He cast his gaze about the circle, taking in the wide smiles of Hunk and Lance, the grumpy one that Pidge couldn't quite fight and the soft, quiet version of Keith's.

Together they all made up the Paladins of Voltron. They were a great team and would become even better. But, right now, gathered as they were in the hug, they went by a different name.

Family.

xxx

 **Author's Notes:**

What is this? Hahahahaha… It all came about between a conversation between myself and a reader about Lance's (non-canon but popular thanks to the original series) last name of McClain and then it turned into the fact 'Lance' really isn't Cuban in origin either. Somehow this was born and yay, more sharing of my headcanons.

This is also the tamest VLD fic I have written and likely, knowing me, will ever write. I can put it at a G rating. Crazy! No impaling, no torture, and it ends with a group hug. But still a little angst because I can't not xD

I hope you all enjoyed! If you did _**please** _do leave a comment below. I'd super appreciate it and love hearing what you enjoyed most. Please and thank you!


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